1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to manufacturing process systems, and more specifically relates to a processing system in which work transport carriages are reoriented relative to a work path along which they are transported, enabling work-piece articles that are carried on the carriages to dwell for a longer time in one processing stage than in another while maintaining a “one-unit-in, one-unit-out balance” for the system overall. The work path along which the carriers move is folded vertically upon itself so that its beginning and its end are in the same general location. The system of this invention has wide application but has found specific use in the “wet process” operations characteristic of optical lens manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conveyorized continuous transport systems are known to be ubiquitous in manufacturing and processing industries. The advantage of such systems over other work transfer methods such as “Batch Processing” is that in contrast to the use of several independent and differing multi-stage processing sections, between which workloads are transported by additional robots or by hand, the continuous transport method permits “in-line” movement of workloads through many and varied multi-stage processing operations, thus eliminating the need for human or robotic intervention for moving work-pieces among and between the differing process stages or functions.
However, continuous transport process systems typically require larger floor areas, e.g. more factory-floor “real estate”, than most “batch” process systems. In addition, such continuous systems can require even more floor-space when the required process times for individual processing stages within the processing system, are not uniform throughout the system.